Tarnished Gold
by Politics.and.Prose
Summary: In her heart of hearts, Lucy always knew she would be going back to Narnia. It wasn't always easy to have faith that Aslan would bring her and her siblings home one day, especially since she had been foolish enough to lead them out of the wardrobe and back to a war-torn England, but she never gave up hope.
1. Chapter 1

In her heart of hearts, Lucy always knew she would be going back to Narnia. It wasn't always easy to have faith that Aslan would bring her and her siblings home one day, especially since she had been foolish enough to lead them out of the wardrobe and back to a war-torn England, but she never gave up hope.

It happened when they least expected it. One minute they were "pretend talking" to Susan so she could avoid some boy, the next they were standing on a beach. Lucy turned, a wide smile on her sister but Susan was frozen, her mouth open in shock.

"What is it?" Lucy asked in confusion. "It's pretty obvious what's happened."

"It's not that … it's just …"

"Did you really think He would bring us back as children again?" she laughed. "We're the Kings and Queens. It would be horribly confusing for everyone if we were just … young. Though … I don't think we're as old as we were when we left."

"I was just getting used to being a teenager again," Susan frowned.

"And scaring off potential suitors!" Edmund interjected with a laugh.

Susan swatted at her younger brother but he artfully dodged her, a grin on his face. "Edmund!" But he wasn't listening. He shoved at Peter and then ran towards the Bight of Calormen that his sister loved so much.

"C'mon, Sue! We haven't been here in a _year_. Let's go!"

Susan stood stoically for a moment, fighting back a smile, before grabbing Lucy by the hand and running after her brothers.

After several moments of playing in the Bight, Edmund froze and looked up, confusion crossing his features and distracting him enough to fall victim to a huge splash in the face from Lucy. "Hold on. Wait."

"What is it?" she asked, stopping and following his stare. "Wait."

"I don't understand. What is that? I don't remember any ruins in Narnia," Edmund said, his eyes turning to Peter. "Do you?"

Peter's eyes narrowed as he looked up, his hand coming up to shield his vision from the sun. "No. We should go check it out."

Slowly, the four stepped out of the water and headed towards a path that would lead up the cliff side. Lucy felt a familiarity in the land but she pushed it down, unwilling to acknowledge what she thought it meant.

It took nearly an hour to get through the brush and over the obstacles in their path. Lucy, taking up the rear, paused every few feet to brush her hand against a fallen tree, a frown on her face. "Where have you gone?" she whispered to a large tree, standing and sturdy, but dreadfully still.

Susan called out to her and she waited a beat before scurrying after her elder siblings. They were all atop the cliff, staring at the ruins before them. No one said a word before they each broke off in different directions. Lucy, as always, was drawn towards the sea.

From there, it didn't take long before Susan found a piece of Edmund's old chess set and they all realized, perhaps at once, that they were standing in their former home.

Lucy felt a deep sadness wrap around her heart as the four Kings and Queens of Narnia stood in the place where they once sat, listening to the problems of their subjects, passing down judgment on those who wrong Narnia, and watching their friends dance the night away at any number of balls.

Looking to his left, Edmund frowned at giant boulders that littered their former hall. "I think Cair Paravel was attacked."

Stepping forward, Peter turned to look at his brother and sisters. "I think it's about time we find out what's going on here," he told them before marching determinately towards where their vault had once been.

"Dramatic," Edmund muttered before following after, glancing only briefly at his sisters to silently urge them to follow.

Susan rolled her eyes, desperate to remind her brothers that they weren't the same children who had been in London mere hours ago, but instead the adult rulers who had accidentally fallen out of the wardrobe.

Lucy felt the vie on her heart give way a bit once they were inside and she could see her chest. Her dagger and cordial had to be in there since she hadn't brought them with her when they'd gone after the white stag. Smiling brightly, Lucy ran down the stairs, easily maneuvering around her older siblings as she made her way to the chest that held so many treasures.

As a young woman of 17, or thereabouts, she figured, Lucy could remember what it was like to come down here, to place her weapons in her chest and gaily join her friends and family for a meal or a dance.

"This is curious," Peter said to them as he opened his chest and pulled out and unsheathed Rhindon. "We're not the age we were when we left, but we're also not the age we were when we came in."

"Aslan must have a reason for that. Maybe we're back in time? Or, well, back in time in the past?" Lucy suggested.

"Then Cair Paravel would still be standing, wouldn't it?" Susan asked. "If we were back in our own time."

"Maybe we're not … in our own time, I mean," Edmund pondered out loud. "There has to be a reason why we're this particular age."

"We're younger than the Calormen Wars," Lucy told them with surety. "They were shortly before we went back." She cleared her throat and pulled out a dress. "Do you think this'll fit?"

"Looks a bit big," Susan noted, walking over to her sister and taking the dress from her. "You grew a bit more than you are now."

Frowning, Lucy rummaged through the chest a little deeper and came out with another dress. "This looks better," she commented. "Have you got a dress too?"

Susan nodded and pulled one out of her chest. "Though I do wish I had the one I was wearing when we left. It was my favorite."

"I think we should get moving," Peter suggested, his voice strong. "We had to have been brought back for a reason and I'm keen to find out what it is."

"Hopefully Aslan will get here soon," Lucy said quietly as she took the dress and headed behind half a wall. "He'll be able to explain everything."

Aslan didn't arrive, though, so the Kings and Queens gathered their belongings and left the familiarity of their former home and out along the river to the north

After walking for some time, Edmund stopped them, his hand in the air. "Shh. Do you hear that?" They all stood quietly for a moment before Edmund frowned and started forward. "Girls, stay back a moment."

"Not likely," Lucy intoned as she hiked up her skirt and followed. "We're not children."

"And I'm older than you," Susan added, following suit. "And I'm the one with the bow."

The four crept slowly up a sand bank and saw two men – they looked like human men – holding a dwarf between them on a small boat in the river.

Boldly, Susan yelled, "Drop him!" before firing off an arrow in their direction.

Unfortunately for the dwarf, the men did just that, tossing him into the river. Susan fired again, hitting one of the men and chasing the other into the river. He swam away while Lucy charged after him and the kings dove into the water. Peter swam down to grab the struggling dwarf while Edmund retrieved the boat.

After being reprimanded by the dwarf, Peter straightened to his full high, which brought the hilt of Rhindon level with the angry dwarf.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me," the dwarf groused. "You're it? You're the ones who was sent to save us?"

"Save you from what?" Lucy asked, stepping in front of her siblings. "What's happened?"

"No time for that. We've got to get moving. Every moment here is a moment too long."

"We're not going anywhere until you tell us why those men were trying to kill you," Susan demanded.

"They're Telmarines. It's what they do."

"Telmarines? In Narnia?" Edmund asked in confusion, sure he'd misheard.

"Showed up not long after you lot abandoned us," the dwarf sniped in confirmation.

"We didn't mean to," Lucy told him quietly, the sadness and shame for being the one who led her family away from their country welling up within her once more. "It was an accident."

"No matter. We best get a move on. We've got a long journey ahead," he told them before turning and heading towards the boat. "At least a full day."

"Wait," Lucy called as she hurried after him. "What's your name?"

"Trumpkin," he answered. "Now let's go."

The party of five all clamored into the boat, Peter taking the oars and moving them towards the cover of the woods. Susan and Lucy sat silently, eyes roaming the beautiful trees that were gently moving with the breeze.

"I don't understand," Lucy said softly. "Why are they so still?"

No one answered her, all of them staying silent for a moment before Trumpkin told Peter where he had to land the boat. "We've got a long walk ahead, Your Majesty," Trumpkin told Lucy. "You may want to return your shoes to your feet before we begin."

Reluctantly, Lucy took his advice and put her shoes back on. Silently, she followed the others as they headed towards the Dancing Lawn and the Fords of Beruna.

"Are you sure this is the way we're supposed to be going?" Susan asked, something inside of her tugging her in a different direction. "I don't think …"

"All due respect, Majesty, you haven't been here in a thousand years. I think I know where we're going seeing as how I've been there before."

"How much could things have possibly changed?" Peter asked as he carefully gripped the handle of Rhindon.

"More than you could possibly imagine," the dwarf answered. "We have to go down this way in order to cross safely."

"Nonsense," Peter disagreed. "I know these lands. There should be a crossing not far from here. This way." He turned in the opposite direction, Susan following him after a moment, then Edmund and Lucy falling in line after. The dwarf muttered something about stubbornness and Lucy couldn't help but agree.

When the five reached the edge of a steep cliff, everyone except Trumpkin turned to look at Peter with a frown. The dwarf gave the High King a superior look. "Are you ready to …"

"Aslan!" Lucy called, her voice happy and bright for the first time since they left Cair Paravel.

The other four turned and looked but could see nothing. Lucy turned to them. "Don't you see him? He's right over …" She turned back to where she had seen her dear friend. "… there."

After a long pause, Trumpkin asked, "Do you see him now?"

Huffing, Lucy turned her back on the place where she'd seen the Great Lion and addressed her companions. "I'm not crazy. He was just over there."

"Maybe it was just another lion, Luce," Susan said in what she considered a calming tone. "There have always been lions in this wood."

"I know what I saw," she told them defiantly. "And I saw Aslan."

"We can cross at the Beruna," Trumpkin told them. "If you remember where that is."

Silently, Peter gripped his sword and headed back into the forest. A beat later, Susan and Trumpkin followed leaving Lucy and Edmund alone.

"I saw him, Ed," she told him seriously. "He was just over there."

Edmund nodded, his eyes flitting to where Lucy claimed to have seen Aslan, and then turned back to her. "We'd better go. Maybe we'll see him along the way."

Edmund put his hand on her shoulder briefly before following behind his older brother and sister. Lucy stayed put another moment, eyes where she'd seen the lion. "Help show us the way, Aslan," she whispered before ducking her head and following after the rest of her party.

When they arrived at the Ford, the Kings and Queens were stunned. "A bridge?" Peter whispered harshly. "They're building a bridge?"

"I don't think we can cross here," Susan responded, her voice equally quiet. "If the Telmarines are as dangerous as Trumpkin says …"

"Worse," the dwarf interjected. "Worse than the White Witch."

Edmund shuttered and turned a grateful look on Lucy when she placed her hand on his. Jadis had been nothing but purse evil in the form of a charming seductress. He'd been a child, sick of living in his brother's shadow, and he'd nearly gotten everyone killed. If not for Aslan …

"We should go back the other way," Susan said, interrupting her brother's thoughts. "Find another place to cross."

Quickly and quietly, the companions retreated back behind the tree line and headed to the cliff they'd vacated not too long before. Sheepishly, Peter turned to his youngest sister. "Where, exactly, is it you thought you saw Aslan?"

"I don't _think_ , I saw him," Lucy retorted tartly, "I _did_ see him. Right … over …"

Lucy screamed as the ground beneath her gave way. In the brief second she was falling, she wondered why Aslan would bring them back, bring her back, just to have her fall off a cliff. But she landed just as she heard her brothers scream her name and her sister shriek in fear.

"Here," she grinned, looking up.

Her siblings and Trumpkin lowered themselves onto the path that was forged in the side of the cliff, Lucy leading the way with a smile on her face. She'd been so sure she'd seen Aslan and this path was proof that she had. He'd led her here, shown her how to safely cross the river so that she and the other Kings and Queen could return to the Narnians and find out what, exactly, brought them back.

* * *

A/N: Firstly, thanks to everyone who stuck with me to get to the end of this chapter. The next chapter will introduce Caspian and the Old Narnians and bring everyone together.

I'm really bad at author's notes and I'm sorry about that. Any feedback that you have is greatly appreciated. Thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

_Lucy woke, her eyes blinking open after hearing a noise she couldn't really pinpoint. It had been so long since she'd wandered the Shuddering Wood. They trees, still asleep or hiding, didn't move for her. Everything was still, even the breeze._

 _For everything that saddened her about her return to Narnia, that was the most disheartening. Aslan, while present, wasn't keeping near, the Narnians were in hiding and the trees were still. She wished she could do something just then to wake them up. She wanted to play with the cherry blossoms, listen to the trees laugh and dance and enjoy the beautiful Narnian day._

 _A breeze lifted the ends of her hair and she smiled softly to herself, her eyes closing as she inhaled the scent of the wood that she wandered her last time here in Narnia. She missed it so much when she was back in England. The air here was fresh, she wasn't looked at funny if she slipped off her shoes and walked barefoot through the grass. Here in Narnia, she was noticed. While back in England she'd been able to make many friends at school, here it was different. She was friends with fauns and centaurs and naiads and mermaids …_

 _Or at least she had once been. Everyone she knew was gone now._

 _A girlish giggle broke her from her sadness, her eyes opening to see the cherry blossoms dancing in front of her. "Hello!" she called out with a bright smile as the petals danced in the wind. She chased after, joy finally filling her. "Slow down!" she laughed. "I'm not as quick as I once was."_

 _As she approached a path, the trees moved over for her and she couldn't help but pause and smile widely. "Welcome back," she whispered, her hand reaching out to brush against one before she jogged through the clearing. Something hit her heart and she picked up the pace, knowing exactly who was waiting for her when she reached the end of her journey._

 _Breathless, she stopped, her breath a little quick and her eyes wide and awestruck. "Aslan," she whispered to herself, the giant lion standing fifty yards away, grander than she remembered him. "Aslan!"_

 _Lucy ran as fast as she could towards the lion, her heart full for the first time in a year. "I knew it was you. You helped us cross the gorge."_

" _It was you who found the way, Dear One. You know these woods better than anyone," He answered._

" _Why couldn't the others see you?" she asked softly. "Why haven't you come to help us? Like last time?"_

" _Things never happen the same way twice, Dear One," he told her. "All will be revealed in due time. But until then …"_

Lucy startled awake at the sound of a branch breaking. She opened her eyes and looked around, wondering if it was someone from her party. Seeing everyone still asleep, she called out to Edmund, hoping he would wake easily. He didn't, however, so she pushed herself up and headed in the same direction she had in her dream.

Arriving at the clearing, she stopped her a moment, smiling as she waited for the trees to part or the cherry blossom pedals to greet her with a smile or a laugh. When they didn't, she frowned and put her hand on the bark of the tree and whispered hopefully, "Wake up."

Sadly, the tree stayed still. Lucy remained standing there for another couple of beats before continuing on the same path from her dream. If Aslan was waiting for her, she didn't want to be late. It took her too long the first time she saw him and that had been detrimental to their journey to find the Narnians and the prince Trumpkin had been speaking of.

Walking carefully around a large rock, she stopped suddenly at the sight of a minotaur. "Impossible," she whispered to herself as she crouched and moved closer. "I've never seen a minotaur in the middle of the Shuddering Wood."

Her hands gripping the skirt of her dress tightly, she slipped closer to the beast, keeping low to the ground. He was armed, as they usually were, but he didn't seem to be hunting. He looks like a lookout, she thought to herself. "But a lookout for what?"

"For intruders," she heard a deep, dark voice intoned from behind her.

Gasping, Lucy turned around and came face to face with a black dwarf. He looked menacing, even moreso than the minotaur had looked. She reached for her dagger and opened her mouth to scream for her family when a hand came over her mouth from behind and she was lifted to stand her full height. The dwarf had a sinister grin on his face that grew bigger when she felt a blade press against her throat.

"Who are you?" another male voice asked, this time younger, smoother and with an accent. She mustn't have answered quickly enough because the blade pressed closer and the man spoke again. "I said, who are you?"

Before Lucy could answer, she heard Peter shout to let her go. Her eyes moved up to see her brothers and sister, weapons at the ready. She didn't want to speak, the blade so close to her throat she feared any vibration would cut her skin.

"Are you hard of hearing?" Peter asked angrily as he stepped forward, Edmund flaking him on his left. "I told you to let her go."

Defiantly, the man held her tighter. "Stay your blades, intruders. As your prince, I command it."

"You're no prince of ours," Susan spat as she tightened her hold on the arrow that was notched in her bow. "Now release her."

The stalemate was lasting a little too long for Lucy's liking. They would be there all day, a blade at her throat, if she didn't gather her bravery and take a risk. A nick on the throat would be much more bearable than any other alternative. Her eyes met Edmund's, silently letting him know that she was done waiting. If she was correct, he gave her a look telling her to just wait, that they would take care of it, but she was tired of being a damsel in distress. Gathering her courage and her breath, Lucy pulled forward her right elbow before swiftly jamming it back into the side of her captor. He shifted just enough from the impact that she was able to drop down to the ground and roll away.

Before Lucy was able to draw her dagger and confront her captor, Peter and Edmund were charging him. The man, who looked to be slightly older than she was, engaged her brothers easily. He fought them off with skills she had only ever seen in tournaments and her brothers' practices.

"Stop!" another voice yelled. "Stop it right now!"

Startled, all three warriors froze and turned to Trumpkin, who finally seemed to catch up. Angrily, he stalked towards the royals, his hand gripping his own sword. "Children, the lot of you! Always trying to talk with your weapons instead of your words."

"If I recall, when you found me in the woods, you came after me with your blade at the ready."

"Well, _Your Highness_ , I thought you were coming to kill us. Did you think a little girl was coming to kill you? All by herself?"

"I'm not a little girl!" Lucy protested angrily. "I am your Queen." She turned her angry eyes on Peter and Edmund for a brief second before finally turning to the man who had held a blade against her throat. "And it's about time you tell us exactly who you are."

"Caspian," he told her. "Prince Caspian X."

" _You're_ Caspian?" Peter asked as he sheathed Rhindon. "You're the reason we got called here? Not exactly what I was expecting."

Caspian's eyes roamed over the Kings and Queens of Old, pausing on each of them for a brief second. "Neither are you."

"Yes, well, we're all who we are," Susan said as she put her arrow and bow back in her quiver and stepped forward to inspect Lucy's neck. "I don't think any skin was broken." With her eyes blazing, she looked up to the prince. "Luckily."

"I am sorry, my Queen. I did not mean to cause harm."

"You did," Lucy said with a small smile. "But I'll forgive you because you didn't know who I was. Your negotiating skills still need a little work though." She ran her hand over her throat lightly before moving to stand between Susan and Trumpkin. "Especially if you're going to become king. The diplomatic relationships that exist between Narnia and her neighbors are some of the most important relationships you'll ever be charged with."

"Says the girl who locked herself in her room when she was sixteen and she didn't want to meet the dukes that were coming in from Ettinsmoor," Edmund snickered. "I don't think you did so well with those particular diplomatic relationships."

"Shut up, Edmund," Lucy retorted. "We're not talking about that right now."

"Are they always like this?" Caspian muttered toward Peter.

Surprised by the congenial manner in which Caspian had addressed him, Peter took a moment before answering, "Worse." If Caspian could respect his position as High King but also not be intimidated by it, Peter figured he could relax a bit. Besides, Caspian obviously knew what they were up against and they would need to be advised on what exactly was going on. He didn't know much about the Telmarines, their customs or their weaponry. He knew they could build bridges and, from what Trumpkin told them, they were dangerous, but not much else.

"How old are you?" Lucy asked, pulling Peter from his mind. "Not to be – I'm sorry. You just look old enough to have already been crowned."

"Not everyone gets crowned when they're eight years old, Lu," Edmund said with a laugh. "Maybe the Telmarines have a different custom."

The Kings and Queens of Old turned to look at Caspian, waiting for an answer. To Lucy, he looked to be about Edmund's age, but that could just be the dark shadow that graced his jaw. She supposed if he was clean-shaven, he could pass for her age or even younger. He was still older than all of her siblings were when Aslan placed them on their thrones after they defeated the White Witch.

"I am eighteen," he told him, his back straightening. "My coronation was being planned when my aunt found out she was with child. My uncle decided it would be better to wait so that she would be able to assist and participate. I know now that it was only a stalling tactic. With my uncle now the father of a son …"

"He has an heir and can take over the throne," Peter finished.

"Only if I give it to him. Or if he kills me."

"That's awful," Lucy said quietly. "I can't even imagine."

"Your Highness," a voice called from the left, "the provisions have been taken to the howe."

All eyes turned to a talking mouse with a red feather above his ear. "Oh my God, he's so cute," Lucy whispered to Susan, which drew the ire of the little friend. He demanded to know who said that and Lucy quietly apologized.

"Oh! Your Majesty," the mouse said as he bowed deeply. "Forgive me. It's just … perhaps another word would be best to describe? Perhaps courageous … cunning?"

"Or humble," Trumpkin muttered with an eye roll. "You said povisions?"

"Yes," the mouse answered. "Weapons and food from the Telmarines at Beruna. They never even saw us coming. Or going, for that matter," he added proudly.

"Good," Peter answered as he turned towards the gathered Narnians. "Because we're going to need all the supplies we can get."

Caspian nodded and began walking, Peter following suit. "The Telmarine Army is without rival. My uncle has gotten troops from Galma, the Lone Islands, Ettinsmoor and more. We will be severely outnumbered in this fight."

"Then we'll just have to be smarter than they are," Lucy told them as she stepped between the men. "If their army is as big as you're saying it is, there's no way, even with centaurs and minotaurs, that we'll be able to defeat them with strength alone."

"Exactly," Edmund added, moving up to walk on the other side of Caspian. "We'll need a plan."

"And a back up," Susan added from beside Edmund. "Probably more than one back up."

Caspian's face showed his surprise at their contributions and it made Edmund smile. "It's not our first war, Caspian," he said as he placed a hand on the prince's shoulder. "We know how to command an army."

"And we've been successful every time," Peter added, pride in his voice. "There's no one I would trust more than Ed and Lucy."

"Queen Lucy?" Caspian asked in shock as he looked down at her.

"I'm not Queen Lucy the Valiant because I sat in the castle and knitted," she responded, perhaps more tartly than she'd intended. "I've seen my fair share of wars."

"Let's hope this is the last," Susan said diplomatically. "I'm rather tired of all the bloodshed."

Lucy reached over and gripped her sister's hand, tugging it a bit before they fell behind the prince and their brothers. "We'll make sure it is," Lucy told her sister strongly. "I know how much you dislike it."

"We should all dislike it, Lucy. We left a war behind. I'd rather not have another."

Lucy squeezed Susan's hand but said nothing more. Susan would fight when necessary but she preferred not to involve herself in battles; not from the ground, at least. Luckily for Susan, she had the advantage of being the most skilled of them with a bow and arrow. While Lucy had the ability to command the archers if necessary but her skills were much better utilized with a sword or dagger on the battlefield.

"We're here," Caspian told them as they reached the edge of the forest. A mile or so ahead was an area with broken pillars and beyond that, a hill with an entrance carved out. "Our troops are there."

"Let's go, then," Peter said as he stepped out into the field. "I'd like to see the army we're working with."


End file.
